BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2636
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 9, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2636 (Gatto) - As Amended: March 18, 2014
Policy Committee: Water, Parks and
Wildlife Vote: 13-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the CalConservation Water Use Efficiency
Revolving Fund (CalConserve) to be administered by the
Department of Water Resources (DWR). Upon appropriation by the
Legislature, funds will be available to DWR for expenditures on
specified water conservation, efficiency and water use reduction
projects. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires eligible projects to have one or more of the
following benefits:
a) Measurably reduce urban per capita potable water use.
b) Measurably reduce agricultural water use.
c) Increase use or availability of recycled water supply.
d) Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water and energy
use.
1)This bill transfers the fund balances remaining from the
Proposition 13 Agricultural Water Conservation Local
Assistance Loan Fund to CalConserve for agricultural water
conservation projects.
FISCAL EFFECT
1) The fund balance remaining from the Proposition 13
Agricultural Water Conservation Local Assistance Loan Fund is
about $17 million.
After the introduction of this bill, the Department of Finance
issued an amendment to the Governor's proposed 2014-15 budget
in a letter dated April 1, 2014 to appropriate the remaining
AB 2636
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balance in the fund to DWR. If the Legislature approves this
budget amendment, there will not be funds available to
transfer for the purposes of this bill.
2)Annual administrative costs to DWR in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars range.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. This bill authorizes the Department of Water
Resources to administer a state revolving fund program that
will (a) be a self-renewing source of funding for water-use
efficiency, available to the public between water bonds, (b)
be a means of leveraging local investment in water-use
efficiency, including investments by private entities, and (c)
provide state financial support to help cities, counties,
urban and agricultural water providers, and recycled water
providers improve water efficiency throughout the state and
meet California's water-use reduction goals.
2)Background. SB 7X 7 (Steinberg), 2009, requires the state to
reduce urban per capita water use by 20% by 2020.The State
Water Resources Control Board and the Department of Public
Health both administer state revolving loan programs used for
specific water treatment projects to address water system
deficiencies. There is no similar loan program to facilitate
water-use efficiency for local communities and farms.
3)Prior legislation . This bill is similar to AB 1349 (Gatto) of
2013 that would have created CalConserve and continuously
appropriated funds for the program. AB 1349 was held on this
committee's Suspense File.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081